Hanukkah Parade 2008

On December 13, 2007, 65 Brevard County citizens marched as representatives of the Sister-City Program in the Cocoa/Rockledge Christmas Parade. The theme of this year's parade was "The 12 Days of Christmas." In honor of Cocoa's sister-city Beit Shemesh, Israel, these representatives displayed an impressive showing of                         "The 8 Days of Hanukkah."

Click here to listen to the song "8 Days of Hanukkah"

Click on the thumbnail photo for a larger image

The Story of Hanukkah

The story of Hanukkah is set in 164 B.C.  There was a king named Antiochus who ruled a vast empire that included many nations.  Antiochus was Greek, and he decided that all of his subjects would be Greek too.  Most of the conquered people were happy to be Greek; the Greeks possessed a great culture, admired by people all over the world. There was only one place where there was trouble: Judea.  The Jewish people did not want to worship the Greek gods. They believed that their God was the one and only true God, and they believed all the Greek gods were false. The Jews refused to change their religion. Antiochus decided to use force against the Jewish people to teach them a lesson.  He sent an army to occupy Jerusalem, Judea’s capital. The Greek soldiers seized the Temple and erected a statue of Zeus and slaughtered pigs and other unclean animals on the altar.  Everyone was required to worship the Greek gods or die.  One man,   Mattathias, led a revolt against the king and his army. After Mattathias died, his son Judah continued the revolt and was given the name Maccabee which means “hammer” --for the way he hammered the Greek forces. The victorious Maccabees entered Jerusalem in 164 B.C.  and found the Temple in ruins. Together with the people of Jerusalem, they worked hard to remove all traces of idol worship and then rededicated the Temple to the worship of the God of Israel, thus Hanukkah is known as the Feast of Rededication.   Hanukkah is truly a memorial day to remember the brave patriarchs of the Jewish faith who defended the House of God.

According to ancient legend, when the Maccabees prepared to light the menorah, the seven-branched  candle that stood in the Temple, there was only enough oil to burn for one day; yet that little amount of oil burned for 8 days, enough time for more oil to be brought to Jerusalem. Today, we celebrate the Feast of Rededication, Hanukkah, with a special nine-branched menorah called a Hanukkiah. The original menorah, called the “Lampstand of God” (1 Samuel 3:3) has seven branches. God Himself gave Moses the instructions for building this menorah (Exodus 25). The Hanukkiah has eight branches to represent the eight days needed to rededicate the Temple. The ninth candle is called the “shammash” or “servant” candle. It is used each night to light the other candles. Hanukkah has also become known as the Festival of Lights for the special tradition of lighting the menorah each evening.